Texas district expands corporal punishment policy

SPRINGTOWN, Texas (AP) - A Texas school district has revised its corporal punishment policy to allow administrators of either sex to paddle boys and girls - as long as a school official of the same gender is present.

The change comes after the Springtown school district acknowledged that a male assistant principal recently paddled two high school girls. That violated previous policy that required a school official of the same sex as the student to carry out corporal punishment.

Texas requires parental permission before any paddling in schools. It is one of about 19 states that allows corporal punishment.

Cathi Watt's daughter was one of the girls recently paddled in Springtown. Watts says she's OK with paddling, but not with the new policy because the male educator used too much force with her daughter.